education policy what's it gonna take?

Aug 4, 2011

What's it gonna take?Last week, we asked: What's should the government or nonprofits do to bolster innovation? Michael Horn of the Innosight Institute weighed in:

"Make the policy environment such that the consumer (the government) actually rewards quality and gives an incentive to all of the actors to search for continued improvement and for entrepreneurs to design products and services that offer improvement so that the 'best' educational products win, not the companies that have the best sales force.

Foundations need to get in this game as well and help build the market. We can't have policies that reward bad actors, for example, and yet today's landscape does not punish those quickly enough. Foundations should also help prop up proof points to build the political case and help students as well as help communicate these ideas to a wider audience to build more support for change. Lastly, they should invest in those areas where the market signals are genuinely weak, like assessments, to help create meaningful ones that aim the system toward the right things in line with the above."

What's it gonna take?Last week, we asked: What's should the government or nonprofits do to bolster innovation? Michael Horn of the Innosight Institute weighed in:

"Make the policy environment such that the consumer (the government) actually rewards quality and gives an incentive to all of the actors to search for continued improvement and for entrepreneurs to design products and services that offer improvement so that the 'best' educational products win, not the companies that have the best sales force.

Foundations need to get in this game as well and help build the market. We can't have policies that reward bad actors, for example, and yet today's landscape does not punish those quickly enough. Foundations should also help prop up proof points to build the political case and help students as well as help communicate these ideas to a wider audience to build more support for change. Lastly, they should invest in those areas where the market signals are genuinely weak, like assessments, to help create meaningful ones that aim the system toward the right things in line with the above."